#this is about adult dick grayson btw.

[willwriteforhugs]

when a character was naturally a goofy and light-hearted person their entire lives but as they grew up they got more and more damaged by the world and by their own grief and it became harder and harder to be the one smiling. and yet they force themselves to stay funny and stay light-hearted but over time it progressively becomes something they do consciously and intentionally to both relieve and manipulate their loved ones . ohohohohohoho

[littlefankingdom]

Me: People who hated Jason Todd did so because he wasn't Dick Grayson, so they were people who were attached to Dick and have spent years reading his adventures as Robin. That means they were probably older teenagers at least, but probably adults. The DC writers themselves, who are adults, hated Jason and wanted him to die, because of their love for Dick. Therefor, people who liked Jason the most were young people, of the same age as him. He could have been their friend, they saw themselves in him. In posts online where people ask why some voted for Jason to die, young people (at the time) explain how they didn't think it was possible and cried afterward, which really show their ages. We can also bet that the people who wrote to DC about how sad they were that Jason died and how much they cried are also young, teenagers or maybe younger. Jason was them, he was their age and their friend, their hero. But the older generations didn't care about what Jason represented to these children, didn't care about the pain Jason's death would bring. Their nostalgia had become hate, it blinded them. The only thing that mattered was that Jason needed to be gone. It was never going to bring back Dick, which is reinforced by him refusing to come back as Robin when Tim asked him after Jason's death, nothing could do that. But they refused to accept it. Poll clerk: Miss, this is a polling station for the French legislative elections... Me: And yet, older folks still let nostalgia blind them to hate and vote against progress, changes that are inevitable, harming in the process the younger generations and their future, even leading some to their death. Poll clerk: Miss, I must ask you to leave.

[spectral-honey]

-bruce Wayne isn't at the circus when dicks parents are killed, and the court of owls take him and he becomes a talon.

-timmy sees him one night, out in the garden of a party looking up at a sky when dick is killing some guy on the roof. Watches him quadruple somersault kick some guy so hard his neck snaps.

-dick talon, sees Tim seeing him. And stalks the kid home, because he might need to get rid of the witness. Or at least report back to the owls about him.

-talon is in Tim's kitchen and he's going to kill him and Tim sees him, gets excited that for some inexplicable reason a gnarly looking dick Grayson is in his house, and offers him a Popsicle.

-talon, for reasons unknown to him, ends up eating a Popsicle.

-somehow, even though it means nothing to him, should mean nothing to him, being called dick Grayson makes talon not kill him.

-somehow, it doesn't get told to the owls.

-somehow, talon finds a way to see Tim again. Made easier when Tim realizes they could meet in the middle and starts hanging out on dark rooftops.

-tim brings him the picture of the two of them and dicks parents two adults, and dick talon looks at the picture for hours.

-the next time, Tim brings him a handful of camcorder videos pilfered from across the internet. Of the flying Graysons. Of dick, and of his... Parents.

-tim also brings him fruit snacks.

-tim doesn't get why Dick doesn't know this, doesn't get why Dick looks different, doesnt get or think too much about the guy he saw dick kill. He doesn't get why he doesnt speak much or know much or acts weird. He's just happy to see dick again, cause he still remembers the kind boy who offered to do a special trick for him, who cried over his parents bodies, who Tim cried over when his parents read in the paper that he'd disappeared.

-somehow (Batman), the owls are taken down, or at least scattered so talon dick doesn't go back there anymore. He shows up at Tim's door and Tim is happy to have him in the house when his parents are away, and shows dick the treehouse Tim and his dad built, told him he could stay there when his parents were home because no one went there because his dad had a business trip that he had to go to before they finished the ladder and now it was too hard for anyone to get up to.

-dick gets found out by Batman, eventually.

-cause an undead kid is living in his city. A talon type of undead kid. In a little boys treehouse.

-jason found him, actually.

-Jason's Bruce's sidekick, his first one and his first kid, but he isn't a robin, because that name came from dick.

-he stopped for a quick breather in some nice neighborhood with actual yards, saw a treehouse and thought "cool, a treehouse", went in and thought "oh, uncool, a talon with a tiny civilian hostage", saw shitty pictures taped to the wall of the kid looking silly and the talon disarmed and confused, and shitty drawings with colored pencils and crayons, and the talon and kid were sitting close to each other with a kid-proof tablet shared on their laps playing a matching game and thought "weird possibly cool turn of events. A tamed talon", and called Bruce.

-batman comes, and now the talon, the civilian kid, and Jason have made a circle and Jason's reading something to them from the tablet.

-its the Wikipedia page for robins, btw. Tim is a weird kid and talon apparently likes robins.

-batman sees danger, first, because the talons body is shaped by it. The talon is tensed, scanning Bruce for an opening to kill. The talon is too close to Jason, to the civilian, Batman sees so many different ways the talon end them before Batman could take a step.

-but the talon hasn't, is waiting. Waiting for Batman to move. For Batman to attack first.

-and Jason briefed Batman, said he didn't think the talon was a threat. Batman couldn't take his word on it, but he could investigate himself.

-he saw the pictures. The drawings, the tablet and the way the civilian and the talon lean close to each other, how talon has set himself between the civilian and jason and batman.

-he also sees the bedding tucked into a corner. The stack of nonperishable foods tucked behind it. The little scraps of paper with simple words- no, yes, food, tired, game. The gray of talons skin, the hollowness settled deeper than bones. That talon became-was forced to become what he is when he was young. little. precious.

-bruce makes a decision.

-dick argues with Jason about who was really older. He was born first, and just because he couldn't grow for a long time, bruce helped fix that, didn't mean anything. Jason's genetics were freaky, letting him grow taller than dick anyway.

-eventually, when much of his growth and healing is done, he does regain his legal identity and legal age.

-dick loves calling jason his little brother in public, where Jason can only object so much.

-dick also takes extreme joy telling society folk that he just ages well, when they fawn over how youthful and pretty he is.

-tim and dick were introduced to Jason's teen titan friends, using the same costume and codename, around the time dick was the same height as Tim. All the titans are convinced the two are some kind of bat-cloned devil twins until dick finally finishes growing and is like over a foot taller than Timmy.

-it becomes an inside joke for the Titans to confuse their mentors by introducing Tim and dick as twins still anyways.

-when Damian comes he tries to stab dick once and dick is literally like wow. Your form was so bad try being a better child assassin <3 jk tho maybe try defeating me without maiming or killing. As a little challenge. Bet u can't. I could do it and look at me I was an awesome child assassin.

-and so Damian embarks on a journey of learning that he doesn't even know is learning

So the rest of this was supposed to be in the tags but apparently Tumblr only lets you have 30 tags. Boo u whore :/ so here's a bunch of shit that was meant to be in the tags & therefore is formatted weird and not at all like the stuff above:

This all came from 1) the idea of Tim figuring out dicks identity as talon rather than as Robin and 2) the image of talon dick living like in a treehouse like. Like a birdhouse.

I imagine Tim is like, little, maybe 6 or 7 or something when he meets talon dick the first time

And then maybe dick escapes the court when Tim's 9 and Jason finds them when Jason's 13 and Tim's 10

And dick was stuck in an undead talon body at the age of like 9 so he's a little shorter than both of them for a while before Bruce is able to get help to let him age normally again

And they get him a couple growth spurts before they let his body work out the rest

And he ends up like 5'10 and he's like I swear I would've been taller if I hadn't been talon

But no dick actually you were always destined to be a short king <3

For reference I usually hc Jason as 6'0 or taller, dick as 5'10, and Tim as like 5'5

Jason is a behemoth and dick and Tim are short kings. Damian is the tallest when he grows up tho

I also imagine that dick is sort of figuring out who he is and isn't totally there for a long time with Tim, and some time after the court of owls falls he remembers enough about his parents that he tracks down and kills Tony zucco

And Tim's like why did you do that killing is bad :( and dick is like he's why my parents died and Tim is like oh okay :) but dick is like internally going killing is bad? 🤔 I'll have to think on this.

Also like in general I was thinking about a little Tim trying his best to work with dick who is traumatized and not used to expressing himself in regular or healthy ways and Tim being just a little kid so it's not like he knows a lot of things or how to do that so they end up with a modge podge of strange coping skills and communication styles

Hence when I mentioned the papers with words on it .. idk if that was clear lol

Also tho Tim teaching him things that dick take as like. Facts but they're just things Tim does

Like if you whisper in someone's ear it's a secret and you can't tell anyone

And one time dick whispers something in Jason's ear and Jason immediately turns and shouts it to Alfred

And dick is so betrayed

Also Tim telling his parents about his grey friend who lives in his treehouse and can bend his bones and they're like that's nice you have an imaginary friend Tim

I also started writing a version of this post where Timmy like figures out dick is talon and like sleuths after him but it was too unclear how Tim would uncover the fuckin court of owls best agent so I scrapped that

But like fanon Tim probably could

I think its closer to canon Tim that its just something that kind of happens to him tho lol

'i found out the bats secret identities because I happened to see Robin do a trick a boy once told me specifically only he and his family could do'

'i found out Jason was alive because he showed up at me and my friends clubhouse and tried to beat me to death'

[who-let-a-bird-in]

Intro/explanation/boundaries post:

Richard John Grayson | Dick | Robin

He/Him pronouns

March 20th 1998 | 13

Gotham, New Jersey | The first Robin | Boy Wonder

(everything else is under the cut)

Explanation:

So this is a counterpart to my other blog (it's my most popular, if you know me then you probably know me from that account) @bludhavens-finest This blog is pretty much my Nightwing from that blog but with his time as Robin.

It follows a similar backstory to the one established on my previous blog, At 8 years old Dick's parents were murdered in front of him by Tony Zuko. After all foster/group homes were full Dick got sent to juvie for the first few weeks after his parents murder where he was often the victim of the older kids there. After being lost in the system for a few weeks the usual happens with Dick being adopted by Bruce, and eventually becoming Robin after Bruce finds out about Dicks plan to kill Tony Zuko (btw this was cannon in a run of comics)

Dick has already been Robin for a few years in this blog, the Titans have just been started (Wally West, Donna Troy, Roy Harper, and Garth) and Dick is still leading them, he does not have any siblings at this time, because of the time settings of my other blog this doesn't take place during modern time, it would take place around 2011 (horrifying ik)

I'm completely fine with the accounts of other batkids interacting, just know that Dick won't immideatly know who they are, right now he would know Bruce, Alfred, Barbara, most of the Justice Leauge, Gotham's rogues (minus more modern ones like Punchline or Gardener,) The Teen Titans (Wally West/Kid Flash, Donna Troy/Wonder Girl, Roy Harper/Speedy, and Garth/Aqualad)

I've seen a lot of accounts treat ones like this of younger characters as different universes and I'm totally cool with people doing that with Dick, a lot of his characterization here is coming from Batman the long halloween: the last halloween, Batman and Robin year one, and some of my own personal headcannons and pre-established lore from my other blog

Since this is the first post there are no annons, but once I get some I'm going to have a list similar to my other blog, asks are opened and always welcomed, oc's are always welcome, and any other cannon characters, any asks will be answered with the "ask robin" tag

Boundaries:

- I am a minor, This character is also a minor, don't be weird and keep that in mind please

- NO BATCEST. Especially because this is a blog for one of the bats, I don’t care how you rationalize it, I don’t want to see BruceXDick, DickXJason, DickXTim, or anything else.

- don’t ship adults and minors!

- no proships in general

- no homophobia

- no transphobia

- no antisemitism

- no racism

- no Zionism - I do have dyslexia and I've made Dick dyslexic, there will be spelling mistakes, if it doesn't alter the meaning of the sentence you don't need to point them out to me

If you agree with any of those things please just block me or leave now to make things easier on the both of us, if not then feel free to stick around! I’m online a lot and pretty much everything on here is going to be open ended

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Round 1

Propaganda why Feyre Archeron is insufferable:

"She is Miss Perfect Special Never Does Anything Wrong. Rhys with her is like Gordon Ramsay with children, EXCEPT SHE'S A GROWN ADULT. I didn't hate her tooooo much in books 1-3 (she was barely tolerable), but in the novella, she becomes this housewife First Lady type character who is fine doing paperwork after stating previously that she wants to be doing something more "important", and living in a McMansion. THEN THE FIFTH BOOK STARTS WITH HER HAVING AN "INTERVENTION" FOR HER SISTER, WHICH IS BASICALLY FEYRE TELLING NESTA THAT SHE'S GRIEVING INCORRECTLY. Bitch, who are YOU to tell someone that THEIR grief is making YOUR life uncomfortable?? "Wah wah the social implications" you're the literal queen, no one cares that your sister is embarrassing you.

Imo, Feyre is also the result of a lot of internalized misogyny on the part of the author, bc she has two men in love with her and gets along very well with every other male character that's not "evil", but many of the female characters are antagonistic or unhelpful towards Feyre, seemingly apropos of nothing. It's giving "I'm not like OTHER girls". She also very clearly doesn't want children but then miraculously changes her mind bc apparently female characters can't be fulfilled without children. 🙄

Oh and btw Feyre also manages to get the powers of EVERY fairy court ruler at the end of the first book. I DO NOT use the term "mary sue" lightly, as that label has been used against feminist characters a lot, but Feyre exemplifies the Mary Sue trope."

"SHES SO ANNOYING AND SO SO STUPID AND BY THE END SHE JUST BECOMES A COMPLETE DOORMAT AND LETS RHYS WALK ALL OVER HER tbh im more mad at the author for butchering her but she's still annoying as all hell"

"Thinks she’s the victim of everything. Destroys an entire Court. Forces an intervention on her sister who is grieving differently than Feyre is."

"She's the WORST. She's an asshole to her family but thinks she deserves to be worshipped by them because she hunts or whatever, feels entitled all the time, is ableist to her dad, is fantasy racist and turns from being racist to not being racist in a BLINK, is ridiculously overpowered and treated as oh-so-special by every single other character ... I hate her and I wish she would die. "

Propaganda why Tim Jackson Drake is insufferable:

"he is so generic the only thing distinctive about him is his rich white boy privilege and arrogance and yet the writers go out of their way to frame him as extraordinary and outstanding from every other character he appears beside which is crazy because he is just a less likable version of dick grayson and his character only works when the reader is reminded at every turn that he is a child so all his flaws are supposed to be endearing even when they negatively affect others"

"Other characters (including a murdered child) are bashed to prop Tim up as a good Robin. He's also constantly sexist and classist. He cheats on two women at the same time and is ultra smug"

"oh man. i've had enough of this duckboy (as the protag, he's tolerable in yj and stuff.) like when tim is the protag every character in the story becomes Worse. lady shiva gets nerfed. steph is turned into jealous hormonal catfight girl. helena is dumbified and too womanly to function (they have a nice dynamic as long as tim isn't the protag). cassie and tim were great in yj98, but as soon as he is The Protag then she is his best friend's girlfriend and they're barely friends anymore. cass is turned into a rapist. dick is turned into a lazy mediocre robin. jason turns into fucky wucky dumb brute yaoi stalker boyfriend who is suddenly obsessed with tim's awesome skills. 10 y.o. damian somehow deserves to be put on a hitlist because he's a savage and tim is civilized. Sometimes the story is bogged own with tim's internal or external lectures about their flaws and how they need to be better (better like him), except for dick HMMMM wonder why that is. probbly wouldn't be so bothered if tim wasn't crammed into the spotlight of every crossover in the 90s and early 00s and then so much of dc and the fandom wave it around as the peak era of comicbooks. like im sorry. he is not a relatable protag. like the editors literally told newspapers that he was created for gen x white dudes who blow their money on comics and merch, the info is on wikipedia."

"His definitive writer is a conservative Republican. His series is full of moral PSAs, *dumb* *hormonal* girls getting into catfights over him, and blatant sexism and racism. He gives anti-marijuana speeches to a standing ovation, he lectures about how babies need a father and a mother, and sex is for marriage. Other characters suddenly become stupid around him so that he looks smart. The other characters talk about how he is the best, nicest, smartest Robin ever and ALL the others were dumber and meaner than he is, even the one that mentored him. He as a grown adult man is canonically still bitter about "his" child sidekick role being given to an actual child (fans pretend he is the victim of this on both sides—nope he's the adult fighting a child for the child sidekick role, no adult wanted to replace him). Did I mention that this character is the amazing pure white boy, and his 10-year-old successor is painted as a savage Arab terrorist who needs to be put in his place? T*m is a 5'9"+ adult grown man, not a delicate sensitive baby boy."

"White twink rich boy who always has to be smartest bestest boy even when he is a part of a whole group of smartest bestest ppl (aka bat family as a whole, like he's literally THE Mary sue of a group of Mary sues) at expense of literally everyone else"

[arunneronthird]

The Death of Jason Todd is such a weird moment, and for me makes the birth of Tim kinda all the more special

basically the 1980s you see the birth of the adult comic fan, the late 1970s and early 80s sees comics geared at high school and college age guys, the X-men in 1975 for Marvel and the New Teen Titans in 1980 for DC.

Come 1986-87 you have the adult fans, and for Batman two works by Frank Miller, 1987's Batman: Year One and 1986's The Dark Knight Returns, both project a grim serious "for adults" NOT FOR KIDS! Batman who in both cases does not have a Robin (well DKR kinda does but we'll get there) most importantly DKR is presented as the future of DC comics as having taken place in the main timeline and were we're going. And Batman's shift to a darker more serious more adult character is set off by... the death of Jason Todd.

So you have a camp of comic fans, particularly Batman, fans who wanted to be taken seriously as adults and not have their thing their hobby characterized as "for children" you also have fans, who feel like there should have only ever been one Robin, Dick Grayson. Remember Grayson was a main character in the wildly hugely to this day biggest selling ever New Teen Titans. Till Crisis in 1986 Jason Todd had the same word for word origin story as Dick, he was also a Circus kid, his family was the "Flying Todds" who fell to their deaths. it's not till 1987, only about a year before his death he's given his own famous tire stealing origin story (and black hair...)

Any ways its unclear to this day if fans really did vote to kill him, since there's always been a rumor one person set up an automated system to repeat call the line to kill him, the final difference between kill and not was 72 votes.

However I think in so many ways that makes Tim special because the writers saw what the fans did, saw that neckbeard rotten comic fan boy rage about wanting their adult grown up grim gritty solo Batman and said "no you are wrong, Batman needs a Robin" it's not just Tim saying that to Bruce it's the creators saying it to the fans.

okay this is gonna sound a bit weird but bear with me anon, if u ever like, want to expand on this u should write a post and send me the link so i can rb it cause i think its such an interesting read and it opens up so many posible discussions and people wont be able to talk to u if ur an anon! people including me btw

that being said, it is interesting that the writers doubled down on tim after killing jason, knowing the writers hated jason! at least as far as i know, my sources are as unbiased as any dc fans so... probably biased

i think the person who originally wrote tim did indeed believe furiously that robin did not make the comic immature, he gave depth, but tim was always a... more serious robin, the quirky dialogue was cut a lot, imo, which im not complaining about, i do like the more serious batman tone, but its so fascinating to know why that shift probably came to happen

lastly i may be a dreamer but i chose to believe the poll was not manipulated, if only because of the fact that i would probably have voted to kill him off, and dont get me wrong, i love kid jason, but as a reader, wouldnt u wanna know what would happen, what it would do to bruce who was trying so hard? to dick who never trued as hard as he could? would there be another robin? how can u say no to that

[disniq]

Season 1, episode 1: Titans

(Here we go, baybee)

Everything in this show is so damn dark, please just let me see

Right off the bat with the creepy circus music, love that. And we are once again leveraging Dick Grayson’s extremely personal tragedy onto other people, yay!

(Side note, but I was trying to work out how old Rachel is supposed to be so I looked up Teagan Croft’s age-- SHE’S 14/15 HERE. RYAN POTTER IS 9 YEARS OLDER THAN HER. I had just been assuming Rachel, Gar and Jason were all about the same age, what the fuck. I have so many questions about the ages of these characters!!)

Look, I'm not a huge fan of Rachel in general, but knowing she's only 15~ does earn her a smidge more sympathy from me. Everything is harder when you're 15 and a bunch of cultists are trying to kill you.

Brenton Thwaites is very pretty. And very serious. (This show has it's issues, but the casting is not one of them imo)

"He's from Gotham, likes to work alone." (See? We know the source material!)

(Does anybody know why they changed it to Detroit? Were they contractually not allowed to use Bludhaven, or did they think using a real place made it more relatable?)

11 minutes in and we have our first body. (Did you know this is an Adult show, for Adults. Look how dark and gritty we are.) RIP Rachel’s fake mom.

Back to Robin, and;

Sir. That's a grown ass man in a cape.

Also, @bloodyentrails made a good point here - why are drug dealers in Detroit, Michigan scared of Batman and Robin anyway?

Oh man, I know the shows whole Thing is that it’s dark and gritty but fuck me. Dick stabs two guys in the neck in his first fight and straight up snaps at least four bones.

(Just setting the tone here for when they still try to pull the “Jason is reckless and violent” card later.)

(I am keeping a body count for everybody, btw.)

(Dick is on 2, but honestly the guys that lived are gonna be pretty fucked up for a good while.)

Anna Diop is also very pretty. I am but a simple bisexual.

Oh, Kori totally banged that hotel concierge. Good for her dot gif.

Her face journey through this whole scene is peak comedy. "I loved you" "Sorry, who are you again?"

Funny how the whole room and three men were charred crispy, but that single photo of Rachel was miraculously intact. Ah, cinema.

(Kori is up to 4 kills. Slay girl! Incinerate!!)

Back to Rachel, who is getting kidnapped! Yay! How do all these different groups of cultists suddenly know where she is?? A few days ago she was just attending school no problemo, but now they can track her across states?

At any rate, it doesn't end well for this guy in particular.

And last but not least, a big kitty stealing games!

They really said Here are your main four heroes, they're all criminals :D

[annah-kitathryne]

Oh I have a list. I'm going to be blocked for some of this and you know feel free to debate me on this I want to have a constructive conversation on some of this. Plus there is no way that I can read every comic ever and remember everything so if mistakes are made I am human.

1. Bruce Wayne/Batman as a character works best when you have him go on a slow but consistent downward spiral where you have him start off with as good of a rich capitalistic boy can be but have him slowly get worse as he gets consumed with more paranoia and emotions he can't properly process because he was never given the proper environment or tools to do so. Have him good from a fairly decent parent and have in decline every so slowly into a worse parent.

2. Alfred Pennyworth is a very flawed character and has picked side multiple times despite claiming (sometimes) to be neutral in a conflict. He has negatively impacted the children he cares for and abandoned his own family to continue working full time with Bruce. (Pennyworth has a daughter BTW).

3. TimSteph was a messy teenage relationship that failed because of at its core very teenage things (miscommunication) but the problems were only made worse but the adults in their lives. They both had their faults and were both horrible to eachother in many ways but they were also very sweet and cared for eachother. To not acknowledge the roles they played in eachother's lives is to disregard a lot of characterization and growth as well as a lot of trauma.

4. Tim is a brilliant character but he is flawed and very annoying some of the time. He says things and does things that make him a complicated flawed but still ultimately good character. The gun Batman story is stupid and should not be revised again. We can explore Tim's flaws in other ways that doesn't bring in gun batman.

5. Jason did more for the plot by being dead than by being alive, and he haunted the narrative perfectly fine. He did not have to be brought back as a character later on. The Batfam was going strong without him and his characterization has only gotten worse throughout the years and most of the storyline he has been in recently is grossly misrepresenting both his Robin character and his later character.

6. Babs is a flawed character and makes some of the same mistakes as Bruce as to boil her down to 'girlboss' is stupid and misogynistic. Making babs Batgirl again is ablist and removes the character growth she had as a character beforehand. She was better as Oracle.

7. Dick Grayson is oversexualized and mischaracterized. It needs to stop. Make him go back to being asshole traumatized adult who only tolerated Bruce for short periods of time. Dick should be a character outside of Gotham related characters.

8. Stephanie Brown has been mistreated by the comic makers and the fandom and what the fandom has done to her character has not fixed the problem, only made it worse.

9. Cassandra is an amazing character but has been whitewashed and infantalized, and tokenalized. She is a complicated character but by many has been reduced to a one note character who is secondary to the the 'batboys'.

10. Helena Bertinelli deserves to have her characterization back and to have the traits that were stollen from her given back. Her writing as a character and vigilante anti-hero is better than Jason, and to give her characterization to Jasonbis wrong.

11. The Batfamily is not a nuclear family and they only get along and work together in smaller groups. They are all together tolerable but antagonistic coworkers but in smaller pairs or groups familial relations.

12. The Joker should be dead and some other big bad should become the focus. Joker as villian has been beaten to death and not interesting anymore. DC has plenty of other very fascinating characters that they could use.

13. Harley Quinn is a problematic character that needs to be written by other people.

14. There's something about boiling Tim down to the 'smart Robin' and headcannoning him as East Asian that feels ickey to me. Like these two together specifically. Just like there is something that feels icky about headcannoning Jason as black or Latino and boiling him down to the 'violent robin'.

15. Batman should have stayed dead. The extended Gotham vigilantes and heroes had just reached some form of normal and a new ers of comics could have come. That would have been more interesting to see than reseting everything.

16. Tim needs to grow as a character outside of Robin and Batman.

17. The Dickbabs vs DickKory ship war is stupid

18. Not all relationships need to be romantic and not all relationships are meant to last. The fandom needs to understand this.

19. Selena can do some much better than Bruce.

20. Talia deserves so much better than what she has been given and deserves a formal apology from everyone.

What's your batfam hot take that will land you like this?

[kimberly-spirits13]

The dick grayson love is undying, he's too much of an absolute angel, I also feel my dick grayson obsessesion restarting and I'm not even mad about it, man is an angel and it's really too bad that he ain't real

I really hope your throat is feeling better, I got my tonsillectomy done I think 2 ish years ago now and as an adult, and the recovery was yikes, it wasn't too painful but then I was taking pain meds so idk it was more just so uncomfortable and gross but thank the Lord for modern medicine because I am so glad those things are out of my throat like do we even need tonsils they're just very problematic 🤣 but really wishing you a good recovery!! 💙 (yes I used the blue one cuz nightwing lol)

AHHHHH SEE I KNEW IT Dick Grayson is just great

also thank you for the well wishes, I feel a lot better now and have started going back to school again. Thankfully school was out today for the severe weather that came through Georgia so I had a good break today. love the hearts btw 💙🖤🙃

[dramatisperscnae]

Guessing the kink (the emoji is a chilli pepper btw): Imogen is never going to say it outloud and is loathe to even think about it for too long and will absolutely never admit to sometimes trying to guess those things about her adult clients... but she's fairly sure Dick Grayson has a praise kink. And she's taking that thought to her grave thank you very much @personae-obscura

[Guess the Kink/s || accepting]

Listen don't tell her but she's right >w> [I mean, situation and partner dependent but still]

[greetings-humans]

introductory post (includes some interaction boundaries, more details on me (ao3 acc, etc) & a dni under the cut)

yeah it's about time I made one of those ig (disclaimer: I'll edit this, if/when the need comes)

hello there! im deelay! you can call me dee, if you want! [btw if you know my irl name, not here you don't unless we're DM-ing]

gender is so weird tbh but please use they/she for me!

for details on what to use when talking to me or about me (like pronouns and gendered terms etc) you can go here

-im a young adult and that's like all imma say age-wise. however please take that into account when interacting with my blog! some of the reblogs/posts here might not be what I'd have been okay with seeing when I was like under 14 or something. so yknow. exercise some modicum of caution please.

-currently in uni, studying to get an english degree (every new thing I learn about teaching makes me want to yell at some of the teachers I've known/had, did they even study in uni? did they even keep in touch with pedagogical studies?? definitely not, from what I can tell)

-I'm technically a writer? like I write,,, supposedly lmao. like all the greats, the one thing I never seem to do is yknow write-

I write sometimes, let's say. and I'm also really interested in writing my own crime fiction novel one day. but that's for some day in the future lmao

-definitely a reader tho (yes ao3 and i are in a committed relationship)

-im also very very aroace, so like, blanket disclaimer, even if you might think I'm thirsting over a character, im really not and it makes me uncomfortable when others think so (and tell me that) so yeah lol

~

my interests and fandoms are. a lot. for example (and in no particular order):

the magnus archives: my first podcast! as of September 2024 I've started s4 and all I want is to relisten to really see how much everyone has changed in the span of 4 seasons🥺🥺 mind your spoilers, I don't always tag! and if you're in s1 frankly just persevere until halfway through s1 or s2 at least before interacting, there's a lot of spoilers for the setting going around because the actual explanation doesn't come until quite later even if u kinda figure some things out on your own

DC (the bats, mostly): dick grayson is so interesting you guys, (as of Jan 2025) im finally properly getting into comics!!

merlin (bbc): i was watchin s2 in August 2024! i finally decided to pick this up again and properly watch it! esp since i really wanna read The Once and Future Kings by tjmcharg & And like the cycle of the year, we begin again by katherynefromphilly and i can't do that if i watched the show lmao

windbreaker (satoru nii): i haven't caught up with this one in a good long while, but im a manga reader so I know wayyy more than the anime lmao. talk to me about my children (sakura, tsubakino, umemiya, kaji, hiragi, suo) and all of the other children ofc anytime!

riordanverse (pjo, hoo, magnus chase, a little bit toa, pjo show [which was def better than the movies but needs more screen time to fix up the pacing and add more depth in the appropriate moments])

fullmetal alchemist brotherhood! (i used to have roy on my pfp, he's my favorite character! i also wanna write a huge character analysis essay on him but uni responsibilities mean that's very slow going). im collecting the hardcover editions of the manga slowly, and i plan on reading the manga properly as i buy them!

star wars (prequels, kotor, clone wars)

jujutsu kaisen: lowkey refuse to finish s2 but I know what's happening by the end of it and I've given up on the storyline so spoil away, I'll just ignore you and live my life in my fanfic sandbox :)

criminal minds: (obsession gone dormant, watch me not think about cm for months at an end until like exam season or something) update: as it's exam season (Jan 2025) I am naturally back into criminal minds— Currently finishing up s14, finally.

yuri on ice is an old love of mine (ice adolescence😭😭 one day😭😭 oh one day😭😭 so that was a fucking joke, mappa count your days and also im stealing viktor you can't have him, im gonna write iceado WITHOUT YOU) (fuck you mappa, I urge all creative yoi fans that think they wanna try doing their own version of iceado to go ahead and give it a go!)

haikyuu!!: I'm all caught up, manga and anime-wise! also patiently waiting for the last (😭) movie that should've been a season but anyways they better not fuck this up too much- (update: battle of the garbage dumpster was wonderful even if they couldn't animate everything... it was just so short. I really hope someone decides to adapt it into a proper season at some point)

tian guan ci fu / heaven official's blessing (as of June 2024, I've finished s2 and tgcf is amazing it's wonderful, I've started book 1 and am currently procrastinating on reading it)

bungo stray dogs is also an old but semi-revived and dormant (as of Jan 2025) interest of mine (im a few chapters out of touch with the manga and haven't read the light novels)

there's like. so much more

sooo muuuuch moooreeee

so I'll just let you figure the rest of it out

If you wanna see some of my thoughts without infinite scrolling, you can also search for the tag "deelay words".

Another tag of mine is "deelay's tbr" (which stands for "to be referenced") which you'll find at posts that really make me Think™ and that I want to keep in mind when I do anything creative with the characters involved.

When interacting with my blog, if you want to avoid spoilers at all costs, I suggest blocking the fandom tag because what you consider spoilers might not be what I consider spoilers if we're at different arcs of whatever that media is.

That said, I'd also appreciate it if you gave me a heads up on spoilers in any asks.

~

if you're here for any of my fics then well.

if you're here for pjo, um. those fics are truly discontinued/on indefinite hiatus. that hasn't changed. I watched the show and I'm actually reading pjo fics again from time to time so if I get inspired enough and manage to plan out a decent fic out of Percy Jackson Revealed,,,, then maybe there shall be a fic. But!!! I have no idea what the ending is gonna be, and without an ending I'm doing nothing because the chances of me dropping the fic (again) would be higher than my anxiety during exam season (aka very very high)

if you're here for the man behind neal caffrey tho!! hi, there. I am working on that sequel, don't worry. it's just long (im at like 7k or so iirc? and im not even halfway through yet) and I'm also working on uni and this other writing project I have going on. feel free to send me an ask with any questions or comments or whatever. august 2024 update: this project is very slow going tbh! i think i need to recalibrate some of my plans because it's so tiring to keep writing some of the stuff I've planned for. white collar crime cases are more tedious than expected. im also like on and off working on a double homicide case fic for criminal minds (that I think I'll rework to become an original thing) and it's coming out much more easily😭

unnamed grishaverse project: yeah so, I have a project going with my friend noel @fifteenth-entity, we're fixing the darkling! this fic will take place like around 50-100 years pre-alina, and will feature the darkling doing darkling things while that generation's most prominent grisha (aka a bunch of queers) also do things that may or may not affect the darkling. and his views. and personality. there may or may not be character development in the works. (there is, he gets better). this fic is canon divergent before canon even happens. the entire plot of shadow and bone will be eventually reworked. (also, no darklina, no darkling romance, in general, this boy needs to get mentally healthy first and foremost and I'm also writing him as aroace sooo) [for more info on this just search "unnamed grishaverse project", it's the tag I've used in like the only post about this. do feel free to send me an ask about this tho!!]

ice adolescence-esque fic: mappa fucked up majorly with canceling iceado and im supremely annoyed, mad, and upset. it just so happens that I was in the middle of my yoi renaissance era when the news came out so with my obsession going strong, I really wanted to try doing something with iceado. this is not going to be a very linear story, im going around and about in different points in time. the first narrative follows viktor at 17ish deciding to try to ratify the quad flip and it includes some insight on his friends and family (who are OCs, im not sorry, his backstory is so barren, i had to!) and on how he ended up so alone by the time yoi was happening. the second narrative is post-yoi viktor coming back to russia ft yuuri, yuri & yakov. this is not a russian gov-positive fic. russian culture is very interesting and some russians are wonderful people —diversity is a thing, after all— but to be perfectly clear, fuck the russian government and everyone supporting their actions. what they're doing is inhumane. [posts about this project will be tagged as "dee's iceado"! ]

~

Another thing: If you have a genuine, not malicious or mean-spirited, question, feel free to send me an ask. Keep it chill, though! if you try to pick a fight i will delete the ask for the first time, but on strike 2, you're blocked.

i like to think that I'm open to discourse on some topics but not if you're starting out all aggressively cause if you're aggressive, I will be defensive (while privately having a panic attack) and we're not gonna get anywhere. Not that I can't get aggressive sometimes when I'm annoyed/offended or sth, like I'm not perfect but this is a general rule of a thumb yknow. Try not to be aggressive. or prepare for an aggressive conversation if you are.

so. once again for the people in the back

If you're here to pick a fight with me then gtfo please.

I don't like fighting, it makes me anxious, so save us both the trouble and be as civil as you can be if you have a disagreement with me. don't forget to check my dni tho. I'm not gonna sit around having basic arguments about my rights to queerness as an aroace person or some stupid shit like that.

that said, unless I'm literally at your post saying shit you disagree with. don't come at me. literally block me. it's fine. I quite literally do not mind or care. like, if you saw my post or reblog and decided I suck then just block me will you?

~

Moreover, if you ever want fic recs for a fandom I'm in, you're definitely welcome to send me an ask! but if you don't feel like talking, anything I will ever tell you is straight from my ao3 bookmarks. sooo, feel free to hunt around those! [in case the link isn't working for you, my ao3 username is Justice_not_Revenge]

ao3 disclaimer: anything before 2021 is not necessarily something I claim. So like don't think I'm into this thing or that I'm passionate about this ship just because in 2019 I bookmarked 100 fics with it, people tend to grow and change so yeah.

some generic DNIs

if you're anti-lgbtq+ in any way (cmon im queer myself this one should be obvious)

if you support AI art or AIs stealing fic content (if you're the type to use other people's OCs in character.ai with no permission, then like go away and don't you dare touch my OCs without talking to me and getting my explicit permission first I will find you)

literally anyone who thinks violating someone's concent is nice and fun and quirky

racists, ableists, sexists/misogynists, incest shippers, pro-shippers, etc

acab however don't be surprised to see me interacting with dick grayson cop posts. it's fiction guys, let me be, some of the fictional cops get to be nice as a treat. irl cops are upholding a faulty institution that only helps the rich and powerful and literally would and have upheld corruption, fascism, racism, general bigotry and many more, thanks for coming to my ted talk—

okay that's all! thank youuu-

[gcballet]

I know I've rambled quite a bit today about Nandermo and the Finale but I have a bit more about the Batman and Robin comparison for those of you who don't know 1950s comic book history.

Basically, do the majority of the WWDITS fan base understand how blatant that is as a queer reference? I'm a fan of Batman (the GC in my url stands for Gotham City - nobody asked) and know the character's history so I caught what they were doing there, but DC have nudged some stuff into obscurity and you might not know.

There was a point in Batman's history where he and Robin were so blatantly camp and queer coded that they almost singlehandedly necessitated new censorship laws and standards in the early 1950s (the same time that first documentary about the vampires was filmed btw).

This was called the Comics Code Authority, and was an organisation publishers were expected to opt into to meet certain content guidelines. Basically, it followed a moral panic about queerness and violence (gosh I wonder what TV show has quite a lot of both) in comics and they needed to make a big show of being above board and SFW to stop the literal US senate coming down on them.

This happened after a book dramatically titled 'The Seduction of the Innocent' by psychiatrist Fredric Wertham was published. In it he basically said 'I think Batman and Robin fuck /neg' and then a bunch of stuff about punching and communism.

DC (the publisher of anything featuring Batman) followed CCA guidelines (at least in name) until literally 2011. Actual comic book historians have written extensively on how this impacted LGBT+ representation in comics, and it's fascinating stuff.

And here's the other bit of context. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, is not Bruce Wayne's son, adopted or otherwise. He is his ward, and Bruce is Dick's legal guardian, not father. It's a distinct legal term. A sexual relationship (between them as adults) would be gross in terms of consent but not actually incestuous, hence the scope for queerness. The term Batman generally used/uses for Dick Grayson!Robin is partner.

Y'know, the same term Nandor starts using for Guillermo in 0610.

In Batman canon, there are multiple Robins after Dick Grayson, for whom Batman is both guardian and mentor, and occasionally an actual adoptive or biological father. The mentor/guardian part is the same way that Nandor frames his relationship with Guillermo when he was a familiar. Nandor has had plenty of familiars before, and multiple Robins after Dick Grayson have grappled with Batman's expectations and the legacy of that identity.

Usually, Robin origin stories feature Dick Grayson swearing an oath on the Bible to aid Batman in his crime fighting and keep his secret identity. Basically, Bruce is just trying to get Dick to take the pursuit of justice seriously, because he understands from personal experience that he is naive, much as Nandor tries to keep Guillermo from vampirism. It's all very like the commitment Guillermo made to serve Nandor, and the text he wrote in the card which they both memorised.

Since the 1950s, Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson have gradually been retconned to have a more literally father/son relationship, than the mentor/student and then equals relationship implied in early canon, so the potential queerness looks weirder and incestuous today, but they were huge for how queerness appeared in the highly censored pop culture of the 50s.

(Tangent - shipping wasn't a thing, but retroactively using the language of it, Batman/Robin was effectively one of the only gay ships on the table until Kirk/Spock ten years later (this is a gross oversimplification of the history of slash and fandom, I'm not writing that right now, you should all know your history by now). But Batman/Robin and the CCA played a major role in LGBTQ+ representation in media, even if it was only to be denounced as wrong and bad, being recognised as existing at all was huge)

Oh, and one last thing. This is some of the queer coded imagery that got DC into trouble in the 1950s. This specific panel was one Wertham famously took issue with.

The sitcom ending is almost shot for shot from The Bob Newhart Show, but also...

Just saw someone complaining about the Newhart ending from 0611 being mockery of people who ship Nandermo and frankly I can only imagine that account is someone who's under 20 bc that is not what mockery/rejection of queer ship fans looks like. You were in preschool when BBC's Merlin came out, you don't know. S6 and finale spoilers below.

The point of the Newhart parody ending was to provide an ending for fans who just wanted WWDITS to stay a goofy status quo sitcom. It's answering the black and white footage of the vampires in the 1950s. The sitcom status quo is a famously really hard trope to work with. The Simpsons is literally still struggling with it - decades of skilled comedy writers have never defeated it. It's a commentary on being satisified by the media we consume. The vampire can never fully be satisfied, no matter how many lives she consumes. The status quo can never be broken no matter how many episodes it attempts.

The 1980s trope of 'it was all a dream' happens in The Bob Newhart Show, it happens in St. Elsewhere, it happens in Dallas. They aren't mocking a queer ship, they're mocking sitcoms and how they've been hamstrung by format in terms of the story they can tell. Assume they did pursue Nandermo unambiguously, onscreen. It would be legitimately too dark for a sitcom. Or conversely, too hopeful for a documentary.

The other generic format choice restricting them is the documentary, because everything the characters do in the show is them being watched by a group of strangers with film equipment. None of their behaviour is wholly real. The entirety of the finale is Guillermo realising his behaviour will change when the crew leave. His behaviour has been influenced by the presence of cameras, and it will happen again. For the first time in six years, he's going to experience actual privacy, and there will be scope for him to express things he has deliberately suppressed with the cameras on. In the first episodes of S5, we saw him get increasingly frustrated with the crew, calling them vultures, as they tried to get the story on what happened with Derek. He's ready for his privacy back, and space to change, but the vampires live by sitcom rules. They aren't prepared to change, or at least, he isn't confident about it.

What We Do In The Shadows (2019-2024) is restricted by two specific genres and their conventions, and the first two 'endings' - the dream sequence and the switching off the cameras - represent exiting both of those genres before any significant radical moves can be implied for Nandermo.

It's a sitcom, therefore the central couple must be in perpetual will-they-won't-they (Friends), the gays must be physically chaste (Modern Family), and the status quo must be maintained (The Simpsons). Once the sitcom is ended via the Newhart ending (which positions Guillermo and Nandor as a married couple, that's not a small thing at all), the documentary tropes can close out.

Documentary tropes are a little harder to pin down, but generally the story should end with Guillermo truly moving on and leaving in a poignant and somewhat tragic way.

Guillermo's narrative thread throughout the documentary version of the show is about his identity and relationship with Nandor. He gives the cameras a big show of finally saying goodbye to Nandor, going on to be a new version of himself, and waits until the crew begin to derig before acknowledging again that a documentary is performative, and he intends to continue their relationship. The documentary format means intimate moments must be captured. When the documentary ends, the intimacy may be private. That's why we don't get a Nandermo kiss. It's allowed to be private now.

Guillermo is sad throughout the finale, yes, but I would argue he's actually mostly stressed, because on one level he understands that the show must commit to one of two trope endings. The sitcom, the repeating lives of the vampires where nothing matters and you can be hypnotised to believe there was nothing deep about it. Or the documentary, where he is forced to tragically leave forever, having learnt a valuable 16 year lesson, perhaps meeting again for a 'where are they now?' Twenty years later.

He thinks he has to choose in under an hour, between the endless sitcom cycle the vampires find natural, or walking away with the humans who made the documentary to capture something ephemeral and temporary.

They do both, and then Nandor and Guillermo get what is clearly the ultimate ending. It's not formatted in such a way that you choose between endings. They're not alternate endings, they're subsequent endings. It doesn't have multiple endings like Clue, it has multiple endings like The Return of the King.

And maybe Guillermo and Nandor don't kiss on the mouth and declare their love for one another, but the camera crew is still leaving the room. What they do do is agree to stay together and work together on something to make themselves and/or the world better. Then Nandor invites Guillermo to share his pseudo-bed and disappear into a private space he has created in secret for the two of them. Even phrased matter of factly that's romantic. Someone flippantly called it 'the gays getting sent to super hell' and wow way to deliberately miss the point. Nandor never follows through on big projects, but he built a miles deep tunnel under the earth so he and Guillermo could at last be alone away from a huge documentary crew and roommates with super hearing. That's beautiful. They don't owe you an onscreen kiss to prove they're in love. They (Nandermo and the show producers) don't even owe you representation, and if you think otherwise, you've not bought into the premise of the show. You are the voyeur watching the documentary, the fan watching the Ross and Rachel (Nandor and Guillermo have been compared to them by the cast).

The whole point of the endings is that they moved Nandermo outside the unreality of TV genres. Not a sitcom will-they-wont-they, not a tragedy within a documentary, just two weird guys in a coffin in a hole in the ground, doing whatever they want because nobody is watching and judging.

They didn't make Nandermo canon, they made Nandermo real.

[superbattrash]

a small Part of Alfred will always see Bruce as his baby even if he isn't very outwardly affectionate about it.Clark and Dick stumble across a book of bruce baby photos Alfred secretly keeps and he gives his commentary in his typical Alfred way. Bruce walks in on the cooing and is like ohshitthisisembarissingileavewhydoesheevenhavethesegottaplaythisoff

Just found this page and I am in love btw

Hi sweetie! Sorry about the wait (it did give me time to incorporate the other parts of your prompt though). I wasn’t sure if you wanted Dick as a child or an adult, so I had a wise soul (Thanks, Alpaca, you da real MVP) help me pick one. I hope we picked right! :D 

I also had to stop myself from writing more than this - I was beginning to stray from the prompt, as is typical Misha fashion, oops. Oh well, I hope you like it! 

There’s a concerning amount of giggling going on in the living room. Not that Bruce minds the giggling - he hasn’t heard it like this in a while, but it’s not a bad sound.

What’s concerning is the fact that he hasn’t seen Clark anywhere and the giggling is very clearly Dick having fun at someone’s expense. There’s really only one potential victim and while it may be Bruce’s paranoia talking, he does know his son and Dick only has one laugh designed to make fun of Bruce. It’s the one that’s booming through the halls this second. Bruce should’ve known better than to leave Clark unattended in the manor while Dick’s home. It’s rare that they have a moment without any of the kids around, but Bruce was almost certain today was one of those rare moments. He should’ve remembered that Dick visiting meant Dick sticking around even after the others had left. Bruce had just figured he’d go with his brothers to the movie. That’s why he’d suggested it. To get at least a few hours alone with Clark.

They’re supposed to have a date night - Clark insists on it and Bruce pretends it’s Clark’s idea in the first place and not something Bruce hinted at for three and a half weeks. No matter whose idea it originally was though, Bruce had some last-minute bat related details to take care of and Clark, the ever graceful not to mention gorgeous oaf of a man had of course merely pecked Bruce on the cheek and said he’d wander around the manor for a minute.

That the minute turned to half an hour isn’t Clark’s fault obviously, but Bruce can’t really be held entirely accountable when his boyfriend is the most patient and understanding man in the history of forever. Still, he should’ve left Clark in the kitchen, or his office. The bedroom, even. He could’ve made a little comment on how Batman likes everything prepared beforehand, or something equally sleazy sounding. Clark would’ve enjoyed that too. But no, of course Bruce’s mind has been too preoccupied with his work, with the mission. He’s getting better at prioritizing differently, but he’s just human. He slips up every once in a while.

Like now, letting Clark roam free along the halls when Richard Grayson just so happens to also be present at the Wayne manor. Bruce should’ve seen it coming from miles away; not only is Dick the biggest Superman fan out there, he’s also a little shit who likes embarrassing or otherwise annoy his father. Normally he wouldn’t mind. It’s a good thing that Clark and Dick get along. But the giggles are piercing his eardrums and he gets increasingly anxious when Clark’s booming laughter joins in. What could be so funny?

Bruce walks towards the living room faster.

“That can’t be Bruce,” Dick laughs and Bruce’s steps falter. He narrows his eyes and walks more quietly. It’s not like Clark won’t hear him approaching either way, but he can image it’ll take him more than half a second this way.

“It’s like he’s never aged at all,” Dick’s voice rings out.

“Look at the little button nose,” Clark coos, and Bruce freezes in the doorway.

Button nose? Just what in the world are they doing in there? If Bruce was an ordinary man, he’d say he was afraid to enter the room, but instead he pretends he has to listen for a few more minutes before he’s truly assessed the situation.

“Did he get that fixed?” Clark asks.

“Oh no, he grew out of that naturally, I’m afraid,” adds Alfred’s voice and Bruce feels betrayal seep into his bones. Alfred wouldn’t- would he?

They’d had this talk before, of course, about Alfred’s weird habit of photographing every moment of Bruce’s childhood. They’d come to a truce of sorts with Bruce allowing Alfred to keep the old pictures if only he’d hide them away never to be seen by anyone else.

Bruce was… Bruce had been a cute child, even he had to admit as much. Chubby and round, expressive blue eyes, a button nose and a few freckles over his cheeks from being outside in the sun too long. Being cute wasn’t exactly at the top of Bruce’s list of accomplishments though and after his parents died, he had a hard time even looking at pictures of himself from before that night. Because that child was gone, his life torn from his body just as much as it had been from his parents that night. At least the life he was supposed to have. So Alfred had silently bowed his head, letting Bruce decide not to have the photos displayed.

At least until now it seems.

“There’s no way those freckles aren’t photoshopped,” Dick says.

Bruce frowns from his hidden position. As if he’d spend precious time photoshopping dots onto his own face just to appear cuter. Youth these days… Bruce hasn’t had freckles in years and he’s certain Alfred has truly betrayed him when he peeks around the corner of the door. Just as he’s predicted Clark and Dick are sitting on the sofa, a large book open in Clark’s lap. He should’ve burned it when he had the chance.

“They didn’t alter photos back then.” Clark flinches and looks apologetically at Alfred. “I mean, not that they’re that old-”

“It’s quite alright, Master Kent,” Alfred reassures. “We did indeed not alter our photos back in the day. Although we wouldn’t have had any need to with Master Bruce’s photos. Those freckles are entirely natural.”

“You’re kidding.”

“I am not, Master Richard.”

“He’s always had dark hair, huh?” Clark asks carefully.

“From the moment he was born, Master Kent,” Alfred agrees. There’s something almost like pride in his voice. Bruce doesn’t want to think about what photos they’re looking at. He can barely remember which photos Alfred has.

“Too bad he won’t grow it out, look how glossy and soft it looks.” Dick points to another photo.

Bruce feels a knot form in his throat. He can’t remember the last time Dick looked at him with such joy – it’s not that they’re not close anymore, but life in Gotham took its toll on Dick. He’s doing better though; Bruce just wishes he didn’t have to look at these old photos to be this happy in the manor. He’d rather nobody ever looked at these photos, but especially Clark and Dick. There’s no reason for them to see what Bruce was like as a child. He’s not like that anymore. Gone are the freckles and the carefree smiles, as well as the wild hair. They’re pictures of a happy child and Bruce is no longer a child.

The happiness part he’s working on. Clark is helping him.

Bruce has heard enough, and he clears his throat discreetly. Alfred doesn’t move an inch. Bruce rolls his eyes, knowing with every fiber of his body that Alfred is well aware he’s there. He’s doing this on purpose.

“Alfred,” he calls quietly. Dick is blabbering loud enough that he hasn’t heard him.

Alfred doesn’t move, but there is a slight tilt to his lips and Bruce wants to stomp his foot like a petulant child.

“Alfred,” he hisses and finally Alfred takes the few steps closer towards the door Bruce needs him to, so that they can talk in private. Well, sort of private, anyway. At least Clark is considerate enough to pretend like he can’t hear their whispered conversation.

“I thought we agreed to keep those hidden,” Bruce says, crossing his arms over his chest to emphasize his annoyance. Alfred, as always, doesn’t give a shit about Bruce’s embarrassment.

“You agreed, sir, I merely complied,” he says as he raises an eyebrow. Bruce deflates like a soggy balloon instantly.

“That’s-” Bruce tries to come up with a decent response, but as is often the case with Alfred, he falls short. “Alfred,” he says instead, voice clearly portraying how displeased he is.

“Bruce,” Alfred echoes in the same voice and Bruce blinks in surprise.

The astonishment must be clear as day on his face because Alfred smiles that secretive yet somehow completely disarming smile of his.

“Look at them,” he says then, and Bruce does.

He’s never been able to disobey Alfred, has never wanted to either. And as always Alfred is right. There’s nothing wrong with the image he’s looking at – it’s his boyfriend and his son looking at photos. It’s not that bad. For a brief moment he just looks at them, enjoying the way Dick is nearly sitting on top of Clark to point out a certain picture.

“They’re enjoying themselves,” Alfred points out, as if Bruce can’t tell that on his own. He avoids saying ‘as am I,’ but Bruce can tell he wants to.

There’s something very domestic about watching his eldest son smile and wave his arms around excitedly. So maybe it isn’t such a bad thing that he’s making fun of Bruce’s baby pictures. It’s not like there’s actually something to be embarrassed about. And Clark is following his every word; Bruce can tell from the way his eyes are focused on Dick’s.

It’s not so bad.

“I don’t get why you still have those,” Bruce still mutters, just to get the last word.

“Because they’re precious to me,” Alfred says, and Bruce can’t find any response to that. The lump in his throat blocks the words from coming out either way, even if he did find something fitting to say. Of course, Alfred must have the final word. He always wins, the old bastard.

Alfred bumps their shoulders together gently and Bruce sends him a shaky smile. Because they’re precious to me. Because you’re precious to me. He doesn’t have to hear the words from Alfred’s mouth to understand them. They don’t talk much about the days before his parents’ murder and he knows that’s his fault. He never realized that maybe Alfred would like to talk about it though, talk about what Bruce was like as a child. Bruce knows how he feels when someone asks about his children and even if Alfred isn’t his blood, he’s the closest thing to a father Bruce has. He should’ve been more considerate.

Dick finally notices him and snatches the photo album from Clark’s lap to hold it up. He looks to Clark and then to the photo album before locking eyes with Bruce.

“Look how similar they are,” he says with a grin.

“It is my face,” Bruce deadpans as he finally walks into the living room.

“Yeah, but who would’ve thought you’d been such a cute baby.”

“A cute baby?” Bruce holds a hand to his chest in mock-hurt. “I was obviously the cutest baby.”

It makes Dick laugh, which was his goal. He really can’t remember what he looked like as a kid. It can’t be that much different from now. He steps closer to peek over Clark’s shoulder. Huh. So maybe there’s something about that. It’s a very cute baby indeed looking back at him from all the pictures and- just how many does Alfred have of him in nothing but a diaper? He turns to glare at his butler. In true Alfred fashion he merely raises an elegant eyebrow.

“The expression’s different though, baby-you didn’t frown like that,” Dick says as he reaches up to try to smooth out the line between Bruce’s brows. He’s too quick for Bruce to swat at him, dancing around his father like natural gymnast he is. Bruce is both proud and annoyed, which is very much on brand emotions whenever Dick is near him.  

“Doesn’t make you any less cute though,” Clark chimes in.

“Ew,” Dick says just as Bruce mutters: “Shut up.”

Alfred stands in the doorway and watches his boys bicker for a while longer. He knows it was a risk to leave the photo album out on the sofa, but it turned out alright after all. Sometimes all Bruce Wayne needs to see reason is a little push. Alfred doesn’t mind being the one pushing. Especially when it means he gets to share the pictures of Bruce’s first day of school. Those are a favorite of Master Kent’s as well, and Alfred silently thanks the higher powers that Clark can’t get Bruce pregnant. He’s pretty sure they’d have babies running around nonstop and Alfred is too old for infants.

He wouldn’t mind another child though. Maybe he should hint at adoption. Master Kent is more than ready to take the bait judging from the heart eyes he’s been sending the photo album all afternoon. Alfred smiles as he leaves for the kitchen. It’s time for tea.

[sinnbaddie]

Tell me you've never talked to a Dickbabs shipper without saying you've never actually talked to a Dickbabs shipper. Don't like it? Block the damn tag.

Ah yes because someone who doesn’t like Dickbabs (because of the pedophilia like writing with Barbara – 25 – towards Dick – a child – and the shitty writing and lack of development for both characters) would absolutely love to talk to the fandom and it’s shippers.

I did block the tag btw. Wont change the fact your “ship” is awful for both parties, ruined a relationship that not only was development for Dick but Kory as well, and you’re fandom you speak so highly of won’t stop when it comes to hating on Kory and calling her a “whore” and a “slut” etc.

Don’t speak on Kory, someone who’s done more for Dick (and Dick for her of course) than Barbara ever could.

And quite frankly I don’t care how much it’s retconned, won’t change the fact people started loving Dickbabs when Barbara was a whole adult talking about how a teenage Dick was cute. Maybe worry about how your ship ruined Barbara as a character and de-aged her just so her entire character can become about Dick Grayson and won’t allow development for her

[thelextheluthor]

I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Titans (the series on HBO Max) because:

On one hand I could literally not imagine anyone better to play any of these characters like Brenton Thwaites is peak Dick energy and Curran Walters makes baby asshole Jason look easy and Iain Glen is perfect Bruce material and Joshua Orpin gives off Superman vibes and also manages to make Conner feel young and inexperienced etc. There's also a good dynamic between most of the characters and they help each other out and they showing that they're people. They're people with problems and secrets and struggles, sure, but they're people. And they care. About each other. About the world. And the series shows that.

But. It also frustrates me to no end. Incoming huge rant, btw.

(warning- lots of spoilers for the show, mostly season 3 cuz that's where I have most of my beef with, and also i haven't watched s4)

Usually because of little -mostly Batman related- things that aren't really noticable to people not really into DC but are there nonetheless like: Dick is not his fucking legal name. It's Richard. No it's not going to say Dick on legal documents. I'm talking mostly about the episode where he got fucking arrested and they pulled up his file (and showed his passport to I think). Also his middle name is fucking John, people, not that hard to look up. (I'm pretty sure they do the same thing with Jason and make his middle name something completely random, but I'm sure in most if not all canons it's Peter). Just. Richard John Grayson. It's not that hard 🙄🤚 Nobody who is either not close to him or has no sense of boundaries will call him Dick. His (adoptive) father is Bruce MF Wayne. Richard, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Grayson-Wayne, whatever that canon is making his last name, that is what they will call him out of RESPECT, if not to him, to the one name everyone in Gotham knows.

Bruce's age is another thing. I have absolutely nothing against Iain Glen, pretty amazing Bruce, but your telling me Bruce is how old? Iain is 61. Like. I'm pretty sure he adopts Dick in his 20's. It's not him being an experienced adult. He's still young. So he WILL screw up. As a person and as a parent. Same thing for the young Dick flashbacks, like, an eight year old from a circus definitely would not know how to drive a car. I do love how he started off on the path of vengeance, because as a "darker" show, Titans is meant to highlight those parts of him hidden by traffic light colors and puns, but one of his things is that he's pretty much the age Bruce was when his parents died. The kid in the show was no younger than 13 in his earliest flashbacks (again, same with Jason and Tim. These kids showed up looking like high school graduates, which, sure, is young to be starting a life of crime-fighting, but you gotta remember that Jason died at 15 in the comics, and Tim never even graduated).

Another thing is, I really do want the show to introduce Damian, but I doubt that this version of Bruce would be able to raise a kid ever again, probably doesn't trust himself enough to, plus he's like in his 50's so either he had Dami really late or he -like the rest of the bat-fam so far- is really aged up when he starts his whole Robin thing, which also kinda worries me because Tim barely got introduced in the 3rd season and I think he will be Robin in the 4th, so I heavily doubt we'll get murder baby 10 year old-ish Damian. And while being young isn't all Damian is, it's a little crucial to his story because you see an adult who was trained to be a killer and you see them as dangerous, sure, but an adult. Actually seeing, witnessing a child being a murder weapon, knowing that that is all their childhood was, that is pretty twisted.

Also I feel like Dick's whole "prison arc" schtick just wasn't him because dude's whole thing was "adopting strays" and he just up and left a whole ass kid in charge of a tower and a comatose patient & got himself thrown into prison on purpose. Nuh uh. If there's one thing that separated Dick and Bruce personality-wise, I think it's that Dick is the one who helps and loves people from the bottom of his heart. Bruce does love people, but he doesn't know communication or where to draw the line between work and personal life. Dick also has that same problem and we see it, he knows it and resents it because he knows that's a *Bruce* trait, but he on the other hand has a support system, people who care and help. Because that's what the Titans is. And Dick wouldn't up and abandon that for anything.

Again with Bruce, I know fighting crime isn't the best way to raise a child, and that giving a traumatized child deadly weapons to fight their inner demons will leave scars, but I wholeheartedly believe that Bruce was trying to be a good parent. In the show, he's really no more than a mentor. The most emotion I've seen is AFTER Dick becomes Nightwing(in one of Dick's flashbacks, he communicated through fucking letters. Dick was practically alone). Same goes for Jason. This was supposed to be another kid Bruce saw himself in, someone lost and alone. And when we saw his computer files on possible future Robins?

Keeping the roll with Bruce, he does things I feel like neither Bruce or Batman would do. Hell, when Jason died, first thing he did was kill the Joker. That is Jason's whole schtick after getting revived‼️His whole problem with Bruce is that he let the Joker live, even after everything, even after his own son died! Nothing changed to Jason! His death didn't mean anything!